Forks Township compressor foes get tips on how to press fight

Message to Forks residents who oppose compressor upgrade: Attend meetings, sign petitions and get neighbors in

About 50 Forks Township residents were given a ray of hope Wednesday evening by representatives of environmental watchdog groups that oppose increased capacity at a compressor station used to move natural gas through pipelines.

Speaking at the township municipal building on Sullivan Trail, Alex Lotorto of Energy Justice Network and Sam Koplinka-Loehr of the Clean Air Council encouraged residents to mobilize and put pressure on Columbia Gas Co., a subsidiary of NiSource, to force it to abandon plans to rev up capacity at the Easton Compressor Station on Klein Road in Forks.

Increased capacity, they said, would trigger greater health risks tied to asthma and other breathing disorders, as well as produce smog when methane, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide react in the air.

The company is seeking permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection to remove existing infrastructure and replace it with two natural gas-fired compressor turbines. The turbines would increase capacity from 2,250 horsepower to 19,500 horsepower, more than eight times the current capacity.

Such an increase would ramp up greenhouse gas emissions equal to placing 19,000 more cars on the road, Koplinka-Loehr said.

Lotorto said, "In Pennsylvania you can't idle a diesel school bus more than 15 minutes. It shows the exemptions these gas companies can get."

Still, both urged attendees to go to meetings, sign petitions and get their neighbors involved. They were also directed to visit the Clean Air Council website to fill out form letters opposing the project that will automatically go to the DEP.

Lotorto said a recent success story occurred in Allentown, where a Community Bill of Rights was established to ban uses that would threaten a healthy environment in order to block a company seeking to burn garbage and release pollutants into the air. This was also used in State College in 2010, forcing NiSource to detour a proposed pipeline around the borough.

Municipalities can also appeal to the state Environmental Hearing Board 30 days after any action by the DEP to win a temporary injunction.

Reaching out to the local media, and utilizing social media, are effective means to block Columbia Gas as well, they said.

"The only real way to stop this thing is either through an ordinance or make it so difficult for them that they pull out," Koplinka-Loehr said.

Citizen involvement has already triggered a deadline extension for submitting public comments to the DEP, he said.

If taken to court by Energy Justice Network, Columbia Gas will be asked why it is deviating from best practices in powering the turbines with the natural gas within the pipelines, rather than with electricity. The latter would greatly reduce gas emissions into the air, Koplinka-Loehr said.

"They made $5.6 million last year, so cost is really not an issue here," Lotorto said.

Koplinka-Loehr said the practice of blowdown, where gas companies release gas into the atmosphere to relieve pressure in a section of pipe, would become worse if capacity is increased.

Jennifer Young, who lives alongside the compressor station, said she already experiences blowdown "at least five times a week." She said the company used to notify residents when one was going to occur, but a company representative told her during a blowdown Wednesday afternoon that it no longer has to do that.

She said the odor from the gas emission Wednesday was so bad, she had to check her dog's well-being.

"The dog was laying on the floor and I had to check him to see if he was still breathing," she said.

Township Supervisor Robert Egolf, who attended the meeting, said the township could oppose the plan "if they get the right information" from Columbia Gas.

The company hopes to get the necessary DEP permits to allow it to go online by next April.

The project is intended to meet demand for natural gas and includes replacement piping in Chester County as well as Gloucester County, N.J. The Forks station would be one of six Columbia facilities in line for upgrades.

Company representatives did not attend the meeting and were unavailable for comment.